Gasana slams US envoy to the UN over double standards on Rwanda

Eugène-Richard Gasana, Rwanda’s permanent representative to the United Nations, has dismissed the assessment made about Rwanda by his US counterpart, Samantha Power, as speculative and short of facts adding that lumping all regional countries together—meaning they are synonymous in context—is misleading. During a UN Security Council open debate on the prevention and resolution of conflicts in the Great Lakes Region, which was held on Monday, Ambassador Power said that—despite Rwanda’s progress in many aspects—the country’s record on protecting and promoting civil and political rights is “less impressive”. She noted that Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and DR Congo, have “inextricable connection” on the issues relating to democratic accountability, human rights, the rule of law, economic progress, and peace and stability. However, Gasana said that the allegations of absence of political space and democratic accountability in Rwanda are baseless. “Mrs. Power does not have power over Rwanda,” said Gasana, who is also the Rwandan State Minister for Cooperation. He added that “we need first of all to caution her in lumping together the approaches of the four countries as there is no one size fit all solution in responding to the challenges the region is confronted with”. Gasana said that while Rwanda commends Powers’ remarks as to the positive trajectory achieved by Rwanda—since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi—in economic and social fields and Rwanda’s key role in maintaining peace and security in the international arena, there was need to emphasize that Rwanda’ achievements did not occur in a “vacuum” but through the “good leadership” of President Paul Kagame. “Rwanda’s success stemmed from many factors including good governance and an enlightened leadership led by President Kagame that put together solutions tailored to the Rwanda situation in the immediate aftermath of the genocide against the Tutsi,” he said. Gasana added that the genocide, which claimed over one million lives, wouldn’t have stopped had the RPF, which was led by Kagame, not taken it upon themselves to stop the mass killings and bring the nation to order. “And you were all here, the Security Council, in 1994, tens of thousands being killed (every day); what have you done? Nothing!” “We want this man (Kagame) there…he was the only one to take responsibility and stop the genocide; he is our hero. So we will never, ever accept whoever tries to deny what the Rwandans want to achieve, or what is the choice of Rwanda,” Gasana said. He said that the “well-tested system” has prompted the people of Rwanda to opt massively to keep their President at the helm of the nation. “You don’t need to agree with us, but you can respect our choices. There are some of the things we might disagree with your country, but there is nothing we can do about it. We leave it to you,” he added. Meanwhile, Gasana used the platform to challenge Burundian leaders to concentrate on seeking solution to the political turmoil their country finds itself in rather than being fixated on Rwanda and President Kagame in particular.

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Gasana slams US envoy to the UN over double standards on Rwanda